Is Tyrus still a diamond in the rough, or are we holding him back for no reason?

I wrote a little blog about this some time ago and I thought it would be fun to share it with you.

I've always been a huge fan of Tyrus Thomas and over the years I've had to pull my hair out and watch in agony as Boris "Jellybean" Diaw got the starting nod and minutes over our young talented forward. I can understand how having a 9 million dollar contract sitting on a bench is pretty useless, but seriously? I do however expect him to start this season. but my question today is have we been holding him back or is he still more potential than talent. I won't be going on and on about this right now but out of boredom I'd like to share a few fun facts and then let you can decide.

In 66 games and 2 starts with the Bobcats over the last two seasons, Tyrus Thomas has been putting up roughly 10ppg, 6rpg, 1.5bpg, 0.8spg in about 21 minutes of playing time behind Diaw as PF. all together he has played 30+ minutes 12 out of the 66 games. Last season he only played 30+ minutes 5 times. In those 5 games he was avg:
21.2 points, 9 rebounds, 2.4 blocks, 0.8 steals, 3.2 personal fouls, 2.4 turnovers, shooting .573 from the field and adding a free throw percentage of 74 percent (18-24) in 32.2 minutes of playing time.
The Year before he topped 30 mins 8 times, averaging 15 points, 8.4 rebounds. 2.4 blocks, 1.6 steals, 3.4 personal fouls, 2.3 turnovers a .575 shooting percentage in 32.3 minutes of play.

In this case: his career average with Charlotte when playing 30 minutes or more, is:18.1 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 1.2 spg, 3.3 pf, 2.4 to's shooting 58% from the field adding 75% free-throw shooting in 40-53 free-throws made/attempts in 32.2 minutes played.
(with the Bulls he avg: 15.6 ppg, 9 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 1.5 spg shooting 53% from the field adding a 78% free-throw percentage given 30+ minutes in 50 games)